it was a big weekend over here with my husband turning 30 and all. lots of fun celebrating with food, family, and a beautiful sailboat ride through new york harbor. not to mention this s'more pie. frank loves s'mores, so naturally i thought i would make him some combination of graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallow. i experimented weeks before making this pie with variations of marshmallows. i even bought grass-fed gelatin to make a traditional kind of gooey marshmallow, and it came out pretty good. however, i had a little difficulty wrapping my head around what the powdery substance truly contained, and opted to make another version of marshmallow that didn't contain ground pig hooves (or whatever gelatin is made from).

a few things to note here...for the graham cracker crust, i used store bought gluten free and vegan graham crackers. they are not the easiest to find in your local grocery, but can be found online. i swapped the butter for coconut oil which makes the crust a bit more crumbly, but still delicious. i also added 1/2 cup more crumbs than the original recipe because the crust was quite thin. for the chocolate filling, i used dairy, soy and nut free chocolate (mostly because it's dairy free) semi sweet chocolate. any other semi sweet chocolate will work, or your could go with milk chocolate for a sweeter, more traditional s'more taste. i used full fat coconut milk for the heavy cream. the marshmallow is egg-based, but if you're vegan, my blogger friend sophia has been experimenting with flax meringue over at her beautiful blog. i haven't had the time to make it yet, but it sounds too intriguing not try at some point!

preheat oven to 350° and lightly oil a pie plate with coconut oil. in a medium sized bowl, mix the graham cracker crumbs and coconut oil; turn out onto pie dish. press evenly into the bottom and sides of the pan. bake in the center of the oven for 12-15 minutes; until shell is crisp and slightly browned. let cool to room temperature, about 1 hour

make the chocolate filling

preheat oven back to 350°. put chocolate in a heatproof bowl. in a saucepan, bring coconut milk just to a boil, then pour hot cream over chocolate. let stand for 1 minute, use a whisk to combine until smooth. gently, whisk in the egg and a pinch of salt until combined; pour into graham cracker shell. bake in the middle of the oven for 25 minutes, until the chocolate is softly set and giggles a bit in the center. (deb recommends covering the edges of the graham cracker crust with tin foil before baking the chocolate, however i did not as the graham crackers i used did not burn from extra time in the oven.)

on a rack, cool pie to room temperature. the filling will firm as it cools, about 1 hour

make the marshmallow meringue

combine 3/4 cup of the sugar with 1/4 cup of water in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pan and simmer syrup without stirring until the thermometer reads a temperature of 240°, occasionally swirling the pan. place the egg whites, salt and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk. whip on high until frothy and add the 1/4 cup of sugar. whip until peaks form

reduce speed to medium, and with the mixer running on low pour the hot syrup into the meringue in a steady stream, being careful not to let it touch the side of the bowl or the whisk attachment (if the syrup hits the bowl or whisk it will harden and be difficult to clean. if it ends up hitting anything just soak in hot water.)

gently spread the marshmallow over the top of the pie. if eating immediately, turn your oven to broil and toast the marshmallow meringue until lightly browned 30-50 seconds. if not eating immediately wait to toast until you're ready to eat. the pie can stay in the fridge for up to one day before toasting